Video Captures Brazen Supermarket Wallet Snatching, Police Say

California authorities released the video as a warning to consumers to be alert.

ByABC News
August 31, 2016, 4:25 PM

— -- Police in Roseville, California, are using recent surveillance video of an alleged purse-snatching in a grocery store to remind consumers about being aware of their surroundings at all times.

"Watch this grocery store purse pirate in action -- this is why it's so important to keep your purse closed and under your control," Roseville authorities posted on their Facebook page. "Never leave it out of your sight on the back of your chair in a restaurant or in your grocery cart, even for a few seconds."

Protect Yourself From Devious Pickpockets

In the surveillance footage, which was dated Aug. 26, 2016, two women can be seen shopping in a produce aisle of a supermarket around 4:30 p.m.

The woman in the white T-shirt can be seen with her back turned to her shopping cart, which holds a dark-colored handbag, as she selects vegetables.

Another woman in a long-sleeved orange T-shirt enters the frame, pushing a cart in the opposite direction. As the the woman in orange passes the shopper in white, she stops her cart by a stand of corn and tomatoes.

With her eyes seemingly locked on the woman as well as the handbag, the woman in orange grabs a clear, plastic bag as if to fill it with vegetables. She then turns and instead quickly lifts the other woman's wallet straight out of her handbag.

With the woman in white's back still turned, the woman in orange tucks the wallet into the crook of her arm. She grabs a tomato, tosses it into her cart and pushes it away.

Roseville authorities said in their Facebook post that the alleged thief in the video footage was "connected to several similar thefts in grocery stores throughout Roseville."

They told ABC News today that the alleged thief had been connected to four incidents since February in at least two stores. Police would not release the supermarket's name in the most recent case.

"We're not publishing her name at this time, but our detective knows who she is," the Facebook post said.

Police asked the public to contact them if they recognized the woman in the orange T-shirt or knew her whereabouts.